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Thursday, February 5, 2009

We moved to Seattle in 2007 and I had only one afternoon to find us an apartment. It sounds like not enough time, but as soon as I entered our building (where we currently live), I knew this was it. There was nothing available at the time, but I liked it so much that we ended up signing a lease by mail a month later to a unit we had never even seen. It was one of the best decisions we made.

If you live in our building, not only you get to enjoy a roof top patio with incredible views of Puget Sound (and 2 barbeque grills available 24-7), but you are also invited to seasonal parties every 4 months. Brunch to celebrate Spring, wine and cheese during the winter, and of course the BIG July 4th BBQ party. Now they are also offering tenants a breakfast get together every first Saturday of each month. Is that great or what?

But the best part of living here is the people. Fellow tenants are great and so is our building manager and the maintenance staff. I like to bring them a little sweet treat every once in a while, it's a way to say thank you. That was the purpose of these blondies. I brought it downstairs in individual containers so they could take them home. I saved a few pieces for me, after all, it was my first time making blondies. They turned out really good! And really easy to make too. I loved the crunchiness from the walnuts and the buttery kind of flavour from the dough.

The recipe is from marthastewart.com which is always a reliable source for all things cookie-related.

Walnut and Chocolate Chip Blondie Recipe:

makes 16 squares

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted (plus more for pan)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare pan by buttering it first, than covering it with parchment paper. Leave a 2 inch overhang on each side for you to pull the cookie later on. Butter the parchment paper as well. Set aside.

Whisk butter and sugars until smooth, add the egg and vanilla and whisk some more. Add flour in two batches and salt, mixing it until it is all combined. Do not over mix it. Fold in half of the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan and top it with the remaining chocolate chips and walnut pieces.

Bake it for about 40 minutes, or until the toothpick test comes out clean.

Let it cool completely. Using the overhang paper, lift cake form pan and transfer it to a cutting board. Slice it into 16 even squares using a serrated knife.

That sounds like a wonderful place to live. I would love all those parties! And that view has to be amazing!

Blondies are one of my favorites. I'm not a chain restaurant fan, but TGIFridays used to have the best blondie with a butter rum sauce. It's no longer there offered so now I just have to make them at home. :)

Lori- can you believe I've only been to TGIFridays once, and it was ages ago....I am not a fan of food chain places either, but I used to have a soft spot for Ruby Tuesday's chocolate tall cake....yumm...

chuck-we used to live in Vancouver for a while, our dream is to come back some day, what a wonderful place! Do you live in White Rock? I've been there, it's so cute.